The Ancient Realm
The Ancient Realm is an alternate dimension discovered by The Bird of Hermes Initiative in the 20th century. Overview While most of the Ancient Realm appears to be devoid of sentient life, temples made of an unknown stone-like material have been found scattered throughout the less barren areas. The structures are seemingly infinite and are made up of large rectangular chambers. The ceilings are high and are supported by large statues showing humanoid shapes and proportions but display the heads of many life forms and the ones from Earth are in the minority. This seems to indicate that the constructors were capable of moving through space if not dimensions. There are also strong signs that the architects were aware of Earth and have been aware of its existence since at least the birth of modern humans. A huge array of symbols have been found inside these temples, and the easiest way to describe them is words made up from smaller words and those made from smaller ones and so on. The symbols appear to carry information of varying amounts and appear at random throughout the temples. The few symbols that have been fully translated have led to the discovery of poetry and many other forms of literature hidden within. On the rarest of occasions, deciphered tomes even provide ancient grimoires, maps, and historical documents. Almost all of these accounts have made multiple references to The Ivory Court, a highly advanced species of extraterrestrial entities believed to be the former rulers of the Ancient Realm. While there are several contradictions regarding the Ivory Court's true nature, all records agree that they transcended the physical limitations of their home dimension in the distant past and have since dedicated the rest of their immortal lives to solving the greatest mysteries of the omniverse to quell their endless state of boredom. However, because of their complete lack of understanding of the less developed species they encountered, they would commit unspeakable atrocities in the pursuit of science, including torture, unethical medical experiments, and even mass genocide. At some unknown point, the Ivory Court abandoned the Ancient Realm and mysteriously vanished without a trace. |250px]] The most famous creations of The Ivory Court are the Chimera, a servant race of genetic experiments bred for manual labor. Mindless and mute, Chimera are hybrid creatures created through the DNA samples of several alien species the Ivory Court encountered in their studies, including a few they discovered on Earth. Originally a large workforce of obedient slaves, the Chimera gradually became the Court's default foot soldiers sent to capture specimens for research and destroy failed or escaped experiments. After the disappearance of their masters, the few surviving Chimera quickly retreated to the Ancient Realm, which they still roam aimlessly in to this day. They are openly hostile to anyone foolish enough to trespass into their territory, and are sometimes seen attempting to use left over technology. This seems to suggest that they have at least some intelligence and may even be trying to continue the work of their creators. While their goals are mysterious and vague, it is heavily implied they are trying to bring back the Ivory Court, who might be trapped in some extradimensional location and require outside forces to free them. Because of this and several other hints, The Ivory Court could very well be a small faction of The Voyagers that used the Ancient Realm as an outpost of sorts. Traits Radiation One of the Ancient Realm's most notable features is the exotic form of radiation that saturates the atmosphere. This strange form of energy makes it nearly impossible for humans to enter it without the use of a hazmat suit or some other form of protection. Those lucky enough to survive are transformed into horribly disfigured mutants. Category:Locations Category:The Ancient Realm